No. 12 Loyola baseball wins 3-of-4 in series over Texas A&M-Texarkana

12th-ranked Wolf Pack baseball team bounced back after dropping the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader to shutout the Texas A&M – Texarkana Eagles in the finale

NEW ORLEANS – After sweeping Friday’s doubleheader to start the 2022 season, the No. 12 Loyola Wolf Pack split the two games Saturday to claim the series win over Texas A&M – Texarkana. The Eagles earned a 7-2 win to start the day, but the Wolf Pack bounced back behind freshman Brady Bowen’s pitching to shut out TAMUT 5-0.

The Wolf Pack (3-1) will hit the road next weekend for their next series, traveling to Houston-Victoria for four games against the Jaguars starting Friday.

Texas A&M – Texarkana 7, #12 Loyola 2 (7)

For the first time in the series, Loyola was the one to strike first with a run in the bottom of the first. After Payton Alexander singled with two outs, Ross Selvaggi drove him home two batters later to make it 1-0. The Eagles, however, bounced back with three runs in the third inning to jump ahead 3-1.

After Texarkana added another run in the fifth, the Wolf Pack tried to get back in the game in the bottom half of the frame. Jake Mills and Kason Cullins led off the inning with back-to-back hit-by-pitches, then the two moved up a base after a wild pitch. Alexander brought one home on a sacrifice fly then after Allen Dennis walked to put runners on the corners, but a double-play ball ended Loyola’s chance at adding more.

The Eagles tacked on two more in the sixth and one more in the seventh, and the Wolf Pack left the bases loaded in the sixth before stranding a base runner in the seventh to end the game.

#12 Loyola 5, Texas A&M – Texarkana 0 (7)

Freshman Brady Bowen earned the start in the series finale, pitching a gem in his Wolf Pack debut. The South Terrebonne product started his collegiate career by recording just four pitches in the first inning, sitting down the first eight batters he saw before stranding a two-out double in the third. Bowen worked five innings of one-hit ball while striking out five with one walk.

Bowen’s high school teammate, Cameron Trosclair, also performed well, giving the Pack a 2-0 lead with one swing of the bat in the second inning. After Selvaggi walked to start the inning, Trosclair hammered a pitch to the opposite field, clearing the right-field wall easily. Loyola added some cushion in the bottom of the fourth with three more runs. Trosclair walked, Tucker Ganley singled and Tyler Hopkins walked to load the bases with one out, then after a strikeout to make it two down, Mills sent a high popup to shallow right field near the foul line. The TAMUT right fielder made a sliding attempt, but the ball popped out of his glove to allow all three runs to score, 5-0.

Luke Clement and Christian Mejia both saw their first action on the mound as a member of the Wolf Pack, and the two each pitched one scoreless inning. They each notched a strikeout, too, while Clement gave up one hit and Mejia walked just one.

WOLF PACK HEAD COACH JEREMY KENNEDY
“I thought we kind of laid an egg in Game 1 (Saturday). It was just kind of sloppy. We gave them too many free base runners, the defense made some mistakes that hurt us, and we didn’t execute on two-strike pitches. Offensively, we didn’t do much either, but I thought we did a really good job of bouncing back.

“Brady Bowen was phenomenal in his first time out there as a true freshman. Cam (Trosclair) got his first hit, a big home run, and those guys were high school teammates, so that’s cool to see.

“We had a lot of new guys out there. The guys on the mound did a good job. It was good to see Luke (Clement) get up there. He’s been fighting injury and he’s still not 100 percent, but him at 85 percent was pretty good today. Overall, it was a solid weekend.”

PACK FACTS
Cameron Trosclair recorded the team’s first home run of the season in the second game Saturday, and it was the first career homer for the freshman as well.

Payton Alexander got a hit and scored in Game 1 and was hit by a pitch in Game 2, extending his on-base streak to 29 games.

Through the first four games, Ross Selvaggi leads the team with four hits and five RBI, while Payton Alexander leads in runs scored with four.

Cameron Trosclair and Garrett Beadle are both batting .500 so far, while Selvaggi’s batting average of .400 leads the team among those who played all four games.

Trosclair reached base in every one of his at-bats in Game 2, finishing with two hits, two RBI, two runs scored, a walk, and a home run.

Loyola’s Game 2 shutout was largely because of starter Brady Bowen, who pitched five innings, allowing just two hits while striking out five batters.

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